When the last oil well runs dry: "Just as certain as death and taxes is the knowledge that we shall one day be forced to learn to live without oil. Exactly when that day will dawn nobody knows, but people in middle age today can probably expect to be here for it."

"Drastic change could be necessary soon after 2030. And it would be drastic: 90% of the world's transport depends on oil, for a start. Most of the chemical and plastic trappings of life which we scarcely notice - furniture, pharmaceuticals, communications - need oil as a feedstock. The real pessimists want us to stop using oil for transport immediately and keep it for irreplaceable purposes like these."

""If I'm right [said Matthew Simmons, a former adviser to President Bush's administration], the unforeseen consequences are devastating... If the world's oil supply does peak, the world's issues start to look very different. There really aren't any good energy solutions for bridges, to buy some time, from oil and gas to the alternatives. The only alternative right now is to shrink our economies.""

When the last oil well runs dry: "Just as certain as death and taxes is the knowledge that we shall one day be forced to learn to live without oil. Exactly when that day will dawn nobody knows, but people in middle age today can probably expect to be here for it."

"Drastic change could be necessary soon after 2030. And it would be drastic: 90% of the world's transport depends on oil, for a start. Most of the chemical and plastic trappings of life which we scarcely notice - furniture, pharmaceuticals, communications - need oil as a feedstock. The real pessimists want us to stop using oil for transport immediately and keep it for irreplaceable purposes like these."

""If I'm right [said Matthew Simmons, a former adviser to President Bush's administration], the unforeseen consequences are devastating... If the world's oil supply does peak, the world's issues start to look very different. There really aren't any good energy solutions for bridges, to buy some time, from oil and gas to the alternatives. The only alternative right now is to shrink our economies.""